The Homemade life supports Kiva - microloans for people in developing countries working to change their lives. These loans are repaid to our KIVA account, so your donation is used many times to help different people - literally the gift that keeps on giving..

I've been a member for some months but, due to a hard drive problem, I lost my link to here and forgot all about it. Luckily an email saying I was an inactive member, reminded me and here I am again.

I'm a single parent, who home educates The Boy and tries not to murder our deranged cat. I'm a self-confessed yarn whore and about to venture into self employment, making (and hopefully selling) hand dyed yarn and fibers, hand carved crochet hooks, wooden buttons and anything else that will make me enough money to keep doing what I'm doing. I'm getting pretty good at spinning too, so will probably end up selling some of that too, although I'm still at the stage where I think everything I've spun is a minor miracle which needs looking at every five minutes.

I want to start growing some of my own food and maybe adopt a hen or two, after I've cleared the mess of brambles that is my present garden.

................................................................................................................................"the luxuries of civilisation satisfy only those wants which they themselves create..." The Worst Journey In The World - Apsley Cherry-Garrard (1922)"Fleeing from the Cylon tyranny, the last Battlestar, Galactica, leads a ragtag, fugitive fleet, on a lonely quest—for a shining planet known as Earth."

................................................................................................................................The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly in the air like birds and swim in the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers and sisters.

I try to get specific sizes but can't get it spot on, possibly because I haven't been whittling for very long. They usually end up between 4 and 5 mm, which is the size I like working on best. I have done a couple of 10 and 15 mm ones, for crocheting with raw fleece, which is then felted to make rugs. I'm thinking of getting a smaller lathe, to get the shaft the right size, but would still want to hand carve the handles as I don't want them to look like they just came of a production line. I use any type of wood that I find lying around, as long as it's reasonably straight. I started doing them when I went to do a workshop but hadn't taken my hooks and I loved using them so much that I did more. I've also started putting carved handles on my metal hooks, as they're easier to grip with my arthritic fingers.

"Anyone can achieve their fullest potential. Who we are might be predetermined, but we should never allow our fears, or the expectations of others to set the frontiers of our destiny. Our destiny cannot be changed but it can be challenged: Every man is born as many men, but dies a single one." -Timothy McGee (NCIS)